South Australia in audacious bid to pinch Sydney’s New Year’s Test

South Australia, its ambitious premier and state association have made a bid to take the New Year’s Test match from Sydney to Adelaide Oval.

Senior cricket sources have told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that Premier Peter Malinauskas and the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) have approached Cricket Australia about trying to pinch the New Year’s Test, customarily played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Premier Peter Malinauskas wants the New Year’s Test to be played at Adelaide Oval.Credit:Getty

Malinauskas made a splash last year by overseeing a winning bid for the AFL’s “gather round” where all matches in an individual round will be played in Adelaide later this year.

In the same breath, the SACA’s leadership is angered by the fact the stadium has been pencilled in for another West Indies Test match next season, to be played around the contentious January 26 Australia Day weekend.

That frustration has led to fresh debate about whether the Cricket Australia board structure needs to be altered to allow the six state association owners to have their own direct representatives on the top table of decision-making.

CA’s chair, Lachlan Henderson, is in his final days in the role before handing over to the former New South Wales premier, Mike Baird, at the end of next week for a board meeting where next summer’s Test venues will be discussed

The argument for the request for the New Year’s Test is based largely on Adelaide Oval’s consistent drawing and revenue-raising power for red or pink ball matches, regardless of the timing of the fixture or who Australia’s opponent may be.

In early December, no fewer than 86,617 spectators filed into the oval to see Australia hand out a comprehensive defeat to the West Indies – in marked contrast to the 42,723 who attended the Perth Test a week before.

That contrast has led to concerted discussions about how to improve the spectator experience in Perth, especially around offering crowds more freedom of movement, shade and hospitality as is the case for SACA members.

It may well lead to changes to the redevelopment plan for the WACA Ground to cater for Test matches against opponents other than England and India. Meanwhile, the likely slot for the Perth Test will be the first of the summer against Pakistan in mid-December.

A New Year’s Test in Sydney in 2020.Credit:Getty Images

Cricket Australia has been sharing outlines of the international fixture for next year with the states, likely placing the Tests against Pakistan in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, before Brisbane and Adelaide host the West Indies in mid-to-late January.

However, the lack of opportunity for match venues and states to argue for better fixtures in the calendar has raised plenty of hackles, especially as the SACA and state government were preparing to launch a bid for the Sydney Test.

“We believe SACA’s got a compelling case in front of Cricket Australia that shows that our premium product deserves premium scheduling,” SACA president Will Rayner told The Age and the Herald when asked about the bid. “We really look forward to working with them to ensure that continues for our members.”

A spokesperson for Malinauskas declined to comment. Cricket Australia declined to comment. When SA secured the AFL round, Malinauskas made a comparison between Adelaide Oval crowds and those for sporting events in Sydney.

“We get more people to the cricket here for a Test match at Adelaide Oval with our population in comparison to Sydney with their hordes, and footy is no different,” Malinauskas said.

“Turn on the NRL most weekends and it looks like a SANFL game, so we are going to get far bigger crowds here and that is something we’re proud of. We welcome the competition, but obviously the best team won.”

In parallel, states have been handed financial projections for cricket over the next five years, factoring in the new $1.5 billion broadcast deal signed with Foxtel and Seven in January.

Much of the additional cash reaped by that deal is expected to flow into improved contracts for international, Big Bash League and state players, to help head off an increasingly competitive global market for cricket talent.

But that need to inject extra money into the player pool may see state associations forced to subsist on annual distributions that do not improve much, if at all, on the level they stood at in 2019, before COVID-19 forced several years of reductions.

State associations actively discussed the prospect of changing the CA constitution to allow a return to direct representation for each state on the CA board over the past three years, before the mood for change cooled during Henderson’s tenure.

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